Expanding educational freedom: School choice allows families to mix and match school environments, research shows 

In the past, choosing a K-12 school seemed like a binary choice: public or private.

But now, American families aren’t just exercising school choice to attend charter, micro, virtual or home schools – they’re mixing and matching school environments within their own household to suit their children’s unique needs.

A study recently published in the Cambridge Journal of Education describes this phenomenon as “education sector mixing.”

As school choice programs grow, study author Angela Watson, director of the John Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab, sees sector mixing becoming more prevalent, too. 

“Families are changing how they consume education,” Watson writes. “Gone are the days (if they ever existed) when most kids were educated in one sector for their entire education, and that trend is likely to expand as more people have more access to more choices than ever before.

“Families can make the best choice on a child-by-child and grade-by-grade basis.”

Watson and her coauthors analyzed national data and found 2.5% of families with multiple children mixed and matched their educational setting.

Families who homeschooled at least one child were very likely to mix sectors (53%).

Other factors that increased the odds of sector mixing included larger family size, charter school enrollment and whether both parents were employed.

However, Watson notes parents’ willingness to mix can depend on why they are seeking alternative schools in the first place.

For example, families who homeschool because of a desire to provide moral or religious instruction may be less likely to mix sectors than a family who homeschools because of a single child’s disability or illness.

Transforming the educational landscape

Nevertheless, Watson believes embracing sector mixing could completely transform the education landscape.

For example, traditional schools could benefit – despite the overall enrollment loss – by opening their doors to homeschool students.

“Public schools with declining enrollment have an opportunity to welcome millions of homeschooling families and strengthen their school communities, whether by offering participation in extracurricular activities or a la carte courses,” Watson proposes. “This opportunity to reach an untapped pool of potential students is available to private schools, too.”

School choice is expanding rapidly, with more than 1.5 million students participating across 34 states. The new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit begins Jan. 1, 2027, with more than 30 states pledged to participate. The program will provide funds to both public and private school students to pay for tuition, tutoring and other education expenses.

As education freedom accelerates, Watson said reforms are needed to ensure all students can learn as they see best.

“Policies in some states prohibit homeschooling families from accessing the educational opportunities offered by public and private schools,” she concluded. “The time for schools, other educational providers, and policymakers to find ways to support families engaging in sector mixing is overdue.”